St. Mark’s Takes 2nd Place In Cornell High School Coding Programming Contest

——By Luke Lee ‘20

On Friday, April 5th, six St. Markers drove to New York City early in the morning to participate in the Cornell High School Programming Contest. The contest started at 11 in the morning, so they had to head out early. “I was so tired. I usually don’t wake up that early.” Ryan Paik recalled. Although they were tired because they woke up so early, the St. Markers were excited and thrilled to enter the competition. It was the first time to enter this competition for all of them. They had no idea what to expect. But they knew they could perform because they had worked hard in Mr. Roche’s class throughout the school year.

There were two teams representing the Lions: the C++ team and the Java team. The C++ team was: Ryan Paik ‘20, Jason Chen ‘20, and Ryan Song ‘20. The Java team was: Alan Gao ‘19, Chapin Pyne ‘20, and Carl Guo ‘21.

When they got to Cornell around 11, they checked in at the reception and had lunch. At 11:45, they all gathered with all the other teams for introduction, where they were told about the guidelines and rules of the contest. The contest began at 12:30 and was held for three hours until 3:30. After the long contest, the teams had a break until 4:15, when the Awards Ceremony began.

St. Mark’s came back with impressive results. There were 66 teams in total from Northeast. And of those teams, the C++ team came in 2nd, while the Java team came in 6th. Mr. Roche was very impressed with both teams, “They took their day. Only one other team from New York had a better score than them [C++team].” Congrats to both teams for their impressive results on the contest!

SM Hosts Annual Sustainability Conference

——By Rwick Sarkar ‘19

Over 70 students and faculty members from schools across New England came to St. Mark’s on Sunday, April 7 to attend the third annual Independent School Sustainability Coalition (ISSC) Conference. The coalition was formed by Milton Academy students three years ago, and the first two ISSC conferences were held there. This year, St. Mark’s hosted as the coalition grows larger and broadens out of the Milton community. This was by far the largest group on hand for an ISSC conference yet, helping to make the day a success.

Taking the lead on organizing this conference was Laura Drepanos ‘19 who shepherded the larger Students for Sustainability group throughout the year as they devoted much of their time towards planning the conference. Others S4Sers who were heavily involved in the planning of the conference include: Alie Hyland ‘20, Alison Bechard ‘22, Charlotte Bertsch ‘21, Daniela Ortiz ‘21, Jocelyn Cote ‘22, Kendall Sommers ‘22, Lindsay Davis ‘21, Sky Davis ‘20, Eve Elkins '21, Frances Hornbostel ‘21, Elise Gobron ‘21, Nashua Poreda ‘22, and myself. St. Mark’s students played an instrumental role in making the conference happen, including by leading different workshops on divestment, sustainability ground rules, and new ISSC initiatives.

The day began with a keynote address from Nathalia JMag, a Colombian-American fashion designer who believes in sustainable and ethical approaches to creating clothing. She has been on Project Runway and has been highlighted in Vogue after participating in the Helsinki Fashion week. Following her talk, students engaged in a Q&A session with her, learning much about the fashion industry and its role in contributing to a polluted world. It was inspiring to see a young person pursuing their passions while prioritizing sustainability.

St. Mark’s students took much away from the conference, learning about sustainability efforts at some of our peer schools. Some ideas S4S members are particularly excited about include initiatives at Taft School to reduce plastic usage in their Lions Den equivalent and an Earth Day celebration with an outdoor picnic lunch, food trucks, and a reusable tumbler sale. S4S is hoping to bring some of these initiatives to our campus soon. Broader discussions were also had. For example, the divestment workshop group discussed making an action plan as a coalition seeking to divest school endowments from fossil fuels, using the force of a coalition of students across the New England prep school world all calling on schools to take action.

In their first year hosting the conference, St. Markers made the day a one to remember and helped broaden the coalition. Moving forward, St. Mark’s students hope to continue being a driving force behind this all-important coalition of students pushing for a more sustainable future.

Students contacted local companies that prioritize sustainability in making their products and handed out free food samples from these brands at the conference.

Fashion designer Nathalia JMag delivered the keynote.

A group picture in the PFAC lobby at the end of the conference.

Meet the Chileans

By Blake Gattuso ‘20

As the Chilean exchange students from the Grange School have left, I asked them each a couple questions about their experiences at home, at St. Mark’s, and in America, in general.

“What is your favorite activity to do at home?”

I noticed that the Chileans’ hobbies tended to be not too dissimilar from hobbies in America. Sofia Ali-Shah likes to walk her golden retriever while Benjamin Tapia likes to play computer games like overwatch and counter-strike. Maria Retamal and Josefina Perez love to practice sports like field hockey and volleyball, respectively. The warmer climate helps out Mariana Gatica, as she likes to take trips to the beach on long weekends while Benjamin Chan enjoys hanging out with his friends.

“What is a fun fact about yourself?”

Benjamin Tapia believes that socks and sandals are the superior footwear choice, and he logically explains it. He says, “you get the freedom and comfort of wearing sandals without getting your feet dirty.” Josefina has a fraternal twin sister. As a fraternal twin myself, this is definitely the go-to fun fact when the question is asked. Maria does artistic roller skating and Mariana dances flamenco, a dance that originated in Southern Spain. Benjamin Chan acknowledges that Chinese food is not his favorite despite his parents owning a Chinese restaurant and him eating their food almost every day. Sofia did her Duke of Edinburgh award last year, which is an impressive award that acknowledges achievement in teens.

“What is the difference between the Grange and St. Mark’s?”

The students said that the main differences were in the class schedule. There are no free periods at the Grange, and they are mandated to take every class, there is no choice. This means they are taking nine to ten classes at any time, and thus is more stressful. School starts at 7:45 am and ends at 4:00 pm at the Grange as well. They also have an obligatory physical education class in addition to extracurricular sports.

“What are some American stereotypes that you have proven true/false while you have been here?”

Sofia, Benjamin Chan, and Josefina all mentioned that it was an American stereotype to have big food portions, and their experience here has backed this up. Benjamin Tapia took this stereotype one step further, saying that everything in America is bigger. Once again, he proved this true with an interesting factoid about his thirds’ basketball teammate, Logan Matthews’ ‘22, feet:

An American stereotype that I have is that I expect everything in America to be larger. This stereotype has been proven to be correct by Logan's size 17 feet. In Chile, brands usually sell shoes up to size 12.5, which makes it difficult even for me to find shoes (I'm size 13). Which makes me not want to even think about what Logan would have to go through to find shoes his size.

Mariana was grateful that her stereotype, Americans being full of themselves, was proven false in her time at St. Mark’s.

Lunar New Year Celebration: ASA Creates Home Away From Home

By Katie Park ‘21, Amanda Wang ‘22, Suha Choi ‘22

St. Mark’s strives to recognize the diverse culture in our community, and the Asian Student Alliance (ASA) planned and organized a week-long Lunar New Year celebration in an effort to create a home away from home for the Asian students. Lunar New Year is the start of a new year according to the lunar calendar. This year’s Lunar New Year fell on the fifth of February. Many Asian countries including China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam celebrate this holiday in their own traditions. Since culture is so diverse among the Asian countries, the ASA wanted to make sure all the cultures were represented.

To pull off the celebrations, there was a lot of behind the scenes work from the ASA members. Most of the ideas came from the three co-heads of the ASA: Helen Huang `20, Lora Xie `20, and Stephanie Moon `19. They reached out to all the ASA members and encouraged them to step up and get involved. There were four different groups in charge of decorations, logistics, weekday activities, or performances.

The Lunar New Year Dinner on Friday night marked the start of the celebration. Parents and families overseas sent their best wishes to all students at St. Mark’s by video in their own languages respectively. This helped create a family-like atmosphere. There were also delicious traditional Asian foods prepared by Flik Dining, such as Korean style beef, Chinese style dumplings, fortune cookies, Japanese sodas, rice, Shrimp shumai, cooked fishes.

Many  students contributed efforts to noteworthy performances and overall a fun festival! To take a peek, Sophia Liu ‘19 played an elegant piece of music, which mimics the sounds of traditional Chinese instruments on piano. Samantha Wang ’21 performed her magic tricks; she made a red napkin disappear and reappear in her hands. Selina Wu’19, Leean Li’19, Amy Wang ‘19, and Jenny Shan ’19 rocked with two Chinese pop music, with their photos on the slideshow to display their friendship over the last four years at St. Mark’s. Alex Chen ’21, Richard Zhang ’21 and Will Lu ’20 made a famous song named The Drunken Beauty come to life, incorporating both the traditional and the modern elements of music. Thomas Li’22, Lina Zhang ’21, and Waverly Shi ’21 played An Unforgettable Night, a traditional lunar new year song known by all, as an end of the new year celebration.

The chapel service organized by the ASA was another significant event. It was the first year for this service, and Ms. Starry Zhu, the ASA’s faculty advisor, stated that “[they] were trying to balance and recognize the perspectives of Asian students from different backgrounds at St. Mark’s.”

The whole celebration was a great success. Behind the curtain, however, the ASA faced some difficulties. Lora Xie `20 shared that “because the variance among different Asian cultures is so great, and because we do have the subgroup of Chinese international students that outnumbers others by far, it was not easy to navigate the diversity within the Asian and Asian American community.” Helen Huang `20 stated that the most difficult part was “managing time and people because we had several groups working on several different things, so it was hard to keep track with what was happening when and what we still needed the accomplish.” Ms. Zhu shared that she is “very proud of how the ASA members managed to overcome numerous difficulties.”

The ASA members are planning to send out a survey to grasp a better understanding of how the students thought that the event went. So far, Ms. Zhu stated that she “received numerous positive feedbacks from faculty members, students, and parents.” The ASA members are proud of how the Lunar New Year celebration went and are looking forward to planning other events throughout the year.

Blessing of the Animals

By Clara Hua ‘21

The Blessing of the Animals is a tradition that started almost 800 years ago. It is in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi, who always called creatures “his brothers and sisters.” He sought to widen the fraternity to include humans and creatures in the same relationship with God. The feast day of St. Francis (the day that he died) is celebrated every year on October 4th, and blessing of the animal services are usually scheduled for the Sunday closest to that day.

Reverend Talcott started this tradition at St. Mark’s in 2009. She thinks that animals are vital parts of our world and our lives, and it’s important to bring our awareness to them. Every year, Belmont chapel welcomes pets from community members and this year we had more than 20 animals, including dogs, cats and even lizards at! Several faculty members and students shared their (or their pets’) experience with me.

“It's my favorite chapel of the year,” said Ms. Caron. “I love seeing my students with their pets. Finn has a great time. It's a little overwhelming for him, but he loves making new dog friends, and he loves seeing all of the students. He was so excited to look out of our apartment window and see the dogs arriving prior to chapel.”

 “Blessing of the animals is my favorite chapel of the year!” exclaimed Sarah Lammert ’21. “ My family is made up of animal lovers. We have four dogs, three goats, six chickens, and a bunny. My first year at St. Mark’s was last year, when I only took one of my poodles. This year my brother joined the school, and we brought all four together. Personally, I love Blessing of the Animals because it allows day students or local boarders to show a little bit of their lives to the boarders who couldn’t bring their pets!”

“I brought one dog with me as Nettie is so afraid of people,” said Ms. Behnke.”Chloe loves “Blessing of the Animals” and it is one of my favorite days. Chloe gets to see lots of dogs she knows and she meets new ones. I also love seeing all the dogs on campus. I am so grateful to St. Mark’s for celebrating this day.”

Tommy Flathers ’21 commented that “[his] dog Claribelle is 11 and a grouchy old lady, so she did not really enjoy the blessing of the animals. She was nervous and hung around the edges. But she did make it all the way through and received her blessing.”

This was not the experience of Catherine Pellini ’20. “Both my puppy Callie and I had so much fun at the Blessing of the Animals last Tuesday. I loved seeing all of the animals and I’m sure she had fun meeting the other dogs! I’m so glad we were able to participate in this amazing St. Mark’s tradition.”

All of us are reminded of the importance of animals in our lives by this tradition. St. Markers (both people and pets) love this chapel a lot, and I bet many of us are already starting to look forward to next year’s Blessing of the Animals!

Perspectives on St. Marguerite's Partnership

By Paige LaMalva ‘20

The St. Marguerite's Partnership is an opportunity for St. Markers to enhance our friendship with St. Marguerite’s, a school located in Latournelle, Haiti. The responsibilities of the partnership are to promote communication, education, and cultural exploration between the two schools. Club meetings involve improving understanding of Haitian culture to members and developing ways to educate the St. Mark’s community about Haitian history and culture. Some of the projects that have occurred are selling Haitian chocolate, running the Haitian Independence Day fair, and sponsoring The St. Marguerite’s Partnership Rice and Beans lunch. The club meets every other Monday from 8am-8:25am in Ms. McColloch’s classroom, Room 128; the student leaders are Haley Dion ‘19, Grant Gattuso ’19, and Kerrie Verbeek ‘19, and the faculty leaders are Ms. Morgan and Ms. McColloch. It’s never too late to join!

The other part of the partnership is the opportunity to travel to Haiti. If a St. Marker wants to be fully immersed in Haitian culture, then this is the opportunity! Five or six students get selected each year for this opportunity. Following their arrival in Haiti, St. Markers will spend the night at St. Matthieu, an Episcopal Parish located not too far from the partnership school. During the trip, students will be able to interact and meet with the teachers and students and enhance their knowledge of Haiti. Students in the past have raved about the trip is an incredible opportunity and how they have built strong friendships.Here are some reflections from last year.

Why did you join the Haiti Partnership?

“I joined the partnership because I feel it is an opportunity to have an impact on our small community as well as on another school and on people’s lives there. I also joined because I feel it is beneficial to create diverse cultures and expand the mindset of students at St. Mark’s. By joining the partnership, I am able to inform myself and peers on Haitian culture and struggles. By doing this, we as a community are able to move forward with the intent of always learning and always helping. I am also simply interested in the culture and contrast of Haiti compared to America.” -Kendall Sommers ‘22

“I didn’t know too much about Haiti, so I was really curious to see what it was like. After learning about how beneficial the partnership is for St. Mark’s and St. Marguerite’s, I immediately knew that I wanted to be a part of it to help make a positive impact at both schools.” Elise Gobron ‘21

What was your favorite part going to Haiti?

“My favorite part about Haiti was building relationships with the St. Marguerite’s community. I loved playing games with the children, singing songs, and dancing with the community! Although there was a language barrier, we were able to communicate through music and dance, which was so special!” -Haley Dion ‘19 (student leader)

“My favorite part of the trip was playing soccer with the kids and dancing with them!” -Kerrie Verbeek ‘19 (student leader)

New Mercedes’ Smartliners: A Smart Purchase for St. Mark’s

By Katie Park ‘21

If you have traveled for sports events or field trips this fall, you have no doubt experienced a significant change that has added sparkle to students’ lives: the new Mercedes minivans. A lot of behind the scenes work went into purchasing the vans, and Mr. Kuklewicz, the Chief Financial & Operations Officer at St. Mark’s, walked me through the long process.

“This all started last winter,” said Mr. Kuklewicz. The team that was part of this project included Mr. Vachris, Ms. Kosow, and Mr. Levandowski. They looked at different models including the Dodge, Ford, and Mercedes Benz. They went on test drives last spring and came to an agreement that the Mercedes Smartliner was the best option. Also, the new minivans are all run by diesel engines which are considered to be more efficient than gasoline engines. “That is when we have decided to opt for the Mercedes Smartliner, and we bought four of them,” said Mr. Kuklewicz.

The main reason St. Mark ’s decided to purchase new vans was because the existing fleet was aging. However, the replacement would have never become a reality without the help of various people from the St. Mark’s community. “Frank Hanenberger, the parent of Lukas Hanenberger '19, was instrumental in helping us to arrange test drives with all the dealers,” said Mr. Kuklewicz. The marketing department led by Mr. Cochran was also a huge help in this process, and Mrs. Levandowski was an instrumental person behind the design group. She came up with several designs, and the group decided which was most aesthetically pleasing. “I like the design of the new minivans!” remarked Charlie Rumrill '21.

The new Mercedes vans not only carry athletic teams but also are used for weekends and school field trips. “Ms. Hultin drove one of the new vans when we went on a JCI field trip to the synagogue, and the ride was really comfortable,” said Geetika Surapaneni '21.

“I have heard many positive reactions and last Friday, I heard one faculty member talking about how the teams are really excited for away games now because of the new vans. Also, some faculty members said that the new vans are easier to drive because they feel more like cars,” said Mr. Kuklewicz. The purchasing of the new minivans was indeed a long process, but the one that is worth it.

Some may be wondering what will happen to our old fleet of mini-vans? Mr. Kuklewicz informed the community just this week that Brantwood Camp will be taking two of vehicles that the third bus will be donated shortly after this.

St. Mark's Gets Tech Savvy

By John Cho ‘19

Reflecting the trend of social media’s emergence throughout the world, within the St. Mark’s community, different groups of students and faculty utilize different social media platforms to reach out to the broader community. Especially for the parents who sent their children to a boarding school, they must be curious about what is going on campus and what activities the students are engaging in. Thus, we strongly recommend for the parents to keep track of these social media pages to keep closer track of ongoing school activities!

Instagram: @smlions

As the official Instagram page of St. Mark’s School, @smlions account posts on official school events on a regular basis. From photos of students in math classes to pictures of student-led club fair, @smlions focus on portraying the community life in St. Mark’s.

Instagram: @smwellness

Recently launched, the @smwellness page is a helpful tool for the students to not only check the lunch menu but also learn about different wellness activities going on campus. As it says in the bio, @smwellness page focuses on creating a community where all members have the essential tools to be their best selves.

Team pages on Instagram (@smgirlsvarsitysoccer, @smjvsoccer, and more!)

If you are a big fan of St. Mark’s sports, especially for certain teams, you should follow their team pages on Instagram. You can find out game times, scores, and other news in the specific team pages. Experience the team spirit by following them on Instagram!

Facebook: @stmarkslions

The official Facebook page for St. Mark’s focuses more on reaching out to the alumni and the parents of the school. The page features alumni stories, school receptions, and school news. If you are looking for a nearby reception or proud achievements of our alumni, search St. Mark’s School Alumni, Parent, and Friends on Facebook!

Go “Ewaso” Lions: Gray Colloquium Speaker raises awareness about vulnerable lion populations

By Suha Choi ‘22 and Luke Lee ‘20

Photos: Sanjna Patel ’19

We are grateful to have had Dr. Shivani Bhalla mark the start of our 2018-2019 Gray Colloquium Lecture Series: Creating Change. The commitment of $1.5 million by C. Boyden Gray ‘60, funds the Gray Colloquium series, intended to provide outside viewpoints and engage our community in thinking bigger. With a theme set each year, speakers from all around the world come to visit our campus and give speeches related to the annual theme.

On October 4, Conservation Biologist Dr. Shivani Bhalla addressed the crisis of the Kenyan lion populations’ rapid diminution. Bhalla is the founder and executive director of Ewaso Lions, a conservation organization that involves scientific research, education and partnerships with local communities to end the crisis in lion populations in Kenya. The team works with with young tribal warriors and local community members including both women and children. Dr. Shivani Bhalla travels once a year to spread her message and create more awareness about wildlife and global environmental matters.

Dr. Shivani Bhalla explained about her organization, Ewaso Lions, and the steps that she has taken to protect the lion population in northern Kenya. She enthralled everyone in the audience through her stories about how she has involved local tribesmen, who killed lions to protect their livestock, into her conservation effort. Due to their support, her team was able to decrease the death toll of lions significantly. When she founded Ewaso Lions in 2007, the situation was grim in Kenya. The lion population has been on a sharp decline, and it has been an downhill trend for years. Because of her ability to save the wild lions under challenging conditions, her story generated much positivity and energy among St. Markers. Although her work is remarkable and well-deserves credit, the hopeful tone of her speech is misleading. Wild lions are still in serious danger.

According to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), lion population has declined 43% and there are less than 20,000 remaining in the world. They are listed as “Vulnerable,” which is right before “Extinction.” They are regionally extinct in 15 African countries. By 2050, lions might disappear from this planet. One of the main reasons lions are endangered is the alarming rate at which they are losing their habitats. As human populations grow, people are chopping down trees because they need more space to create more roads, houses, and agricultural fields.  Due to loss of habitat, lions are being forced into closer quarters with humans. Not only that, the decrease in their natural prey causes them to attack livestock. In turn, farmers oftentimes retaliate and kill these majestic big cats.

Another factor that contributes to the decreasing lion population is trophy hunting. Craig Packer, director of the Lion Research Center at the university of Minnesota, says “When a hunter kills and takes home one big male trophy, other males fight and kill one another for dominance. The male lions might also kill of the cubs and attack females who try to defend them. In Tanzania, the big, older trophy males became so depleted that hunters started killing immature maneless lions.” Lastly, lions are slaughtered for their bones and other body parts, which are sold illegally to Asia. In some parts of Asia, lions are popular for their purported health benefits.

It is important to maintain conservation efforts by remaining hopeful. However, it is equally important that we don’t overlook the stark reality of the crisis with our cheerfulness. Dr. Shivani Bhalla’s speech should not merely linger as a witty, lighthearted connection to St. Mark’s beloved lion mascot, her attitude and contributions should inspire awareness, compassion and most importantly actions-qualities which St. Markers should seek to learn from their own community.

So, go lions! Go lions of St. Mark’s! Go Ewaso lions of Kenya!

Learn more about Dr. Shivani Bhalla and her team:

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/fi1nd-explorers/shivani-bhalla

http://ewasolions.org/